Israel approves, Hamas rejects Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce

Israel announced it will agree to an Egyptian-backed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the security cabinet has stated. However, the peace plan looks in ruins, with Hamas rejecting the initiative, saying “this proposal is not acceptable.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had convened
to vote on the deal at Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The agreement was made minutes before the proposed truce was due
to come into effect at 06:00 GMT. The ceasefire will come into
effect immediately.

Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official and envoy to Cairo,
cast the deal in a positive light, saying Hamas had been weakened
by the air and sea bombardment of impoverished Gaza.

"Look at the balance, and you see that Hamas tried every
possible means of striking at Israel while bringing great and
terrible damage on its people, from their perspective,"
Gilad told Israel's Army Radio. However, Hamas says it’s likely
to reject an Egyptian ceasefire proposal for the current
Israel-Gaza conflict. The militant group said it had not
officially received the text of the agreement, but believed it to
be "an initiative of kneeling and submission."

Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official rejected the proposal
because it was deemed to be unacceptable. Previously, the
al-Qassam Brigades had shown little interest in getting to the negotiation
table.

“Our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in
ferocity and intensity,” the group stated.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that despite recent declarations
by Hamas officials in opposition to the Egyptian offer, it is
possible that in the next few hours Hamas' political leadership
will hold direct talks with Egyptian intelligence in an effort to
accept the cease-fire proposal.

Hamas' political chief Khaled Meshal or his deputy Ismail Haniyeh
is expected to release an official statement later Tuesday. The
statement depends on how the talks between Hamas' leadership and
Egypt progress in the coming hours.

Israel sees in the Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce an opportunity to
strip the Palestinian enclave of rockets but is prepared to
redouble military action there if the cross-border launches
persist, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

"We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give an
opportunity for the demilitarisation of the (Gaza) Strip - from
missiles, from rockets and from tunnels - through diplomatic
means," he told reporters.

"But if Hamas does not accept the ceasefire proposal, as
would now seem to be the case, Israel would have all
international legitimacy to broaden the military operation to
achieve the required quiet," Netanyahu added.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel
on Tuesday after the Israeli government accepted, and Hamas
Islamists said they rejected, an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire.

Live television showed the Iron Dome anti-missile system
intercepting several rockets over the port city of Ashdod and
sirens sounded in other parts of southern Israel. Israel Radio
said a factory in Ashdod was hit, but there was no immediate word
of casualties.

Channel Two TV said 10 rockets had been launched. The Israeli
military, which said it had stopped its attacks in Gaza, reported
before the Ashdod strike that three rockets had been fired since
the ceasefire deal was to have gone into effect.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, three rockets were fired from Egypt
towards the southern Israeli resort of Eilat. Four civilians were
injured, according to Israeli security officials. They added that
they believed the rockets were fired by Islamist militants in the
Egyptian Sinai in an attempt to derail Cairo’s efforts to mediate
a truce between Israel and Palestine and put an end to the
week-long shelling of the Gaza Strip.

In response to the Egyptian proposal, Hamas spokesman Fawzi
Barhoum said on Monday that his movement would not accept any
truce that excludes the conditions of the Palestinian groups and
people, as quoted by Israeli media.

In a televised address, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the
role of Hamas fighters and denounced the Israeli bombardment of
the Gaza Strip.

“The problem is not the truce, but the siege and starvation
of Gaza Strip,” Haniyeh stressed. "The problem is not
going back to the agreement on calm because we want this
aggression to stop."

Since the start of Israel's military operation on Tuesday, 184
people – mostly civilians – have been killed by airstrikes in
Gaza, Palestinian medics said.